1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information retrieval devices, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved hand-held electronic Bible which permits a user to selectively view biblical text.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of hand-held electronic information retrieval devices is well known in the prior art. Such devices include electronic dictionaries, electronic calculators, electronic translators, and portable personal information storage and retrieval devices.
A good example of a prior art electronic information retrieval device is to be found in U.S. Pat. 3,781,809, which issued to Murakoshi et al on Dec. 25, 1973. The device illustrated in this patent is designed to retrieve words from a dictionary, and the entire text of a dictionary is stored within the memory portion of a computer.
At least one patent has issued which is relevant to the subject matter of the present invention. In this respect, U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,196, which issued to H. Gonet on Apr. 24, 1984 and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an electronic Bible having electronic character display means, biblical text storage means, and input address means for causing selected passages from the Bible to be rapidly displayed during the course of and after the end of a religious gathering. The hand-held computer and associated system is preprogrammed by the leader of the religious gathering by the entering of selected biblical passages into a selected command program store. The selected passages may be thereafter read out in sequence merely by touching a single button during the gathering.
While all of these prior art electronic information storage and retrieval devices are functional for their intended purposes, it can be appreciated that the displayed text of a screen may be difficult for certain individuals to read. In this respect, none of the prior art electronic information storage and retrieval devices make provisions for variations in size of displayed text, so as to accommodate the needs of a reader, and it would appear that there is a continuing need for such modifications to these prior art devices. In this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.